On Friday at noon, we welcomed six athletes to Greenwood, SC for a 3-day gravel camp. Our good friend Alvi was also present as he helped us out throughout the weekend.
Gravel riding is not like riding on the road. Sure, you are on a bike that feels similar to a road bike but the skills needed for off road are more similar to mountain biking than road riding.
Friday was a true skills session. We only covered 13 miles in four hours but the campers learned a lot. Heavy feet/light hands, body bike separation, and body position were repeated and ingrained into our campers with many opportunities to practice. We sectioned specific areas of the Southeast Gravel Greenwood course. Prior to the camp, our campers completed a questionnaire so that we could better understand what our campers wanted to work on. Here were their responses:
-Descending
-Riding on loose chunky gravel
-Riding on loose chunky gravel
-Riding on single track
-Riding in rain and mud
-Cornering
-Not crashing/falling
-Riding in a group
-What is rideable vs. not rideable
-Quickly dismounting
-Cornering
-Not crashing/falling
-Riding in a group
-What is rideable vs. not rideable
-Quickly dismounting
After we all got cleaned up and scrubbed all the gravel off our bodies, it was time for our pizza party and race discussion. We got pizza for everyone from The Mill House (it was delicious) and we spent some time talking about the race - what went well and areas that still need to be worked on.
I booked the cutest Airbnb which happened to be on a farm. I never pass up an opportunity to stay close to farm animals.
On Sunday, we had one last opportunity to work on skills and to get in a bit more off road riding. We met by the Long Cane Horse Trail/Fel Hunt Campground at 9am. It was chilly in the morning (40s) but we warmed up quickly. We rode for 24 miles (~2 hours) and it was a great opportunity to shake off the soreness from the race and to also continue to work on more skills. Because the conditions were different than on Saturday, we had the opportunity to work on a few different features, like peanut butter mud.
We've been putting on training camps for the past 10 years and over the years, we have realized how many triathletes lack basic bike handling skills. And I can attest as I was one of those athletes! I was one of the many triathletes who were indoor fit with poor bike handling skills.
Can you relate?
You spent countless hours on the indoor bike trainer (or on familiar roads) and your power is where you want it to be but because you lack basic bike handling skills, you constantly perform below your bike fitness abilities on race day.
You spent countless hours on the indoor bike trainer (or on familiar roads) and your power is where you want it to be but because you lack basic bike handling skills, you constantly perform below your bike fitness abilities on race day.
🚲 You feel uncomfortable approaching or passing athletes.
🚲You waste energy in and out of corners because you are not confident at taking a corner at speed.
🚲You don’t feel confident grabbing or rotating bottles and taking in nutrition.
🚲You get a lot of anxiety when it comes to descending.
🚲You worry about tight u-turns.
🚲You are constantly afraid of your surroundings and have a fear of crashing.
🚲You don’t know how to safely stop on demand.
🚲You were never taught how to use your gears (outside of the big chainring) for hilly/rolling terrain.
And the list goes on.
These aren’t “racing” skills. These aren’t professional skills. These are basic, fundamental, critical bike handling skills that will keep you safe on the road.
We enjoyed working with our campers at our recent gravel skills camp as they became more aware of the proper bike handling skills needed for a variety of off-road terrain conditions. And the great thing is that they can now ride even better on the road.
If you are interested in taking your bike fitness to the next level so you can ride faster and safer, we are offering three more training camp opportunities for triathletes.
⭐Early Season Triathlon Camp - April 26-28th (Greenville, SC)
⭐Off-Road Triathlon Skills Camp and off-road triathlon - May 3rd-4th (Whitewater Center, NC)
⭐Long Distance Triathlon Camp - July 12-14th (Greenville, SC. Perfect for anyone who has a hilly long distance triathlon on their summer/fall race schedule).